The instant invention relates to an agricultural vehicle, specifically to a vehicle which is operable to load, transport and dispense material from a wound bale.
The use of wound bales for collecting and storing material, such as hay, has become increasingly popular over the past several decades. Wound bales may be easily formed and compacted and facilitate the gathering and shipment of large quantities of hay. A wound bale is more able to withstand environmental elements than a rectangular bale and it is therefore desirable to use the wound configuration.
The handling of a wound bale, however, presents several difficulties in that several bales do not generally neatly compact adjacent one another and the weight of the bale makes conventional handling difficult. Wound bales may weigh between 1,500 and 3,000 pounds.
Known devices include a "spear," which impales the wound bale along its central axis and then rotates the bale dispensing the material thereof. Other devices support a bale at either end at its axis and unwind the baled material.
It is desirable, when unwinding baled material that, when the material is deposited on the ground, it not be dispensed in a flat mat, rather the material should be dispensed to form a windrow, which rises somewhat above the ground surface and does not allow the now dispensed material to be trampled into the ground by livestock.
An object of the instant invention is to provide a field vehicle for handling wound cylindrical bales which is capable of lifting a bale from the ground, transporting the bale, and dispensing the material of the bale alongside the vehicle.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide a field vehicle which is stabilized to prevent twisting of the vehicle frame.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide a field vehicle which is operable to unroll a wound bale and deposit the material thereof in a windrow alongside the vehicle.
A further object of the instant invention is to provide a field vehicle which has means for unrolling a wound bale regardless of the direction of bale winding.
Still another object of the instant invention is to provide a field vehicle which is operable to transport wound bales endo along the length of the vehicle.
The field vehicle of the instant invention includes an elongate mobile vehicle frame which is supported for movement over the ground, and an elongate conveyor extending along the length of the frame. The conveyor is constructed to support a series of bales in an end-to-end relationship and to move the bales endo along the frame in a path extending axially of the frame. Bale unrolling means are aligned with the conveyor to receive a bale moved thereinto by the conveyor. The bale unrolling means includes a support for supporting the underside of the bale occupying the unrolling means and means for moving the support to produce rotation of the bale thereon about its axis.
These and other objects and advantages of the instant invention will become more fully apparent as the description which follows is read in conjunction with the drawings.